Davy and Kristin McGuire’s Intricately Cut Paper Sets Come to Life with Animation

Davy and Kristin McGuire’s narrative cut paper tableaus are hauntingly real, thanks to a combination of digital projection mapping and animation. Carefully cut dioramas portray architectural wonders, castles, people and snowy forests. The pair combines their incredible paper dioramas with projections, bringing the paper sets to life for an all encompassing installation.

Davy and Kristin’s paper art works hover between digital and tactile, creating a hybrid installation bridging two art making methods together. The intricate paper sets are cut carefully to reveal fine architectural details, lit from within to create dimensionality. No detail is spared, which is evident in the piece L’Achimie de Courvoisier; a sprawling paper mansion estate.

Along with the paper cuts, the installations include a theatrical projection. For L’Achimie de Courvoisier, the pair brought to life the magical process behind the historical distillery, Alongside the stately paper chateau and its grounds, Davy and Kristin created an animated reel, appearing like shadows amongst the set. Men on horseback trotted into the scene, workers moved barrels of cognac, tractors and farmers harvested the grounds, and fireworks lit up the estate- all with projection. The resulting combination of the paper set and the animation was nothing short of fantastical.

The pair has also created equally compelling projected paper sets like The Paper Architect, which shows idyllic sunrise and sunsets in a lush countryside, telling the story of two lovers. Another, The Hunter, depicts a sullen farm house where its inhabitant hunts and kills animals at night.